1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a medium feeding apparatus for feeding a medium to be fed, a liquid ejecting apparatus including the medium feeding apparatus, and a recording apparatus.
2. Related Art
In a printer of an ink jet type to be one of general recording apparatuses, an automatic paper feeding apparatus is provided in an upper part on a back side. The automatic paper feeding apparatus comprises a hopper for supporting a paper together with a paper support and a paper feeding roller disposed opposite to the hopper and serving to feed the paper which is supported. A guide for regulating a support position of the paper and guiding the feed of the paper is attached to the hopper. Two guides are provided to carry out the regulation and the guide in contact with both side ends of the paper, respectively. One of the guides serves as a fixing guide fixed to the hopper and the other guide serves as a moving guide for being slid in a transverse direction of the paper over the hopper.
A user mounts a paper on the hopper and then slides the moving guide to cause the fixing guide and the moving guide to come in contact with each side end of the paper, respectively. However, a guide operation is carried out by a visual observation of the user. Therefore, a variation is easily generated in a gap between each side end of the paper and each guide. For this reason, in the case in which the gap is large, there is a possibility that the paper might be inclined in the feed of the paper, causing a paper jam. In the case in which the gap is small, there is a possibility that a frictional resistance (a back tension) between each side end of the paper and each guide might be increased to generate a paper feeding failure in the feed of the paper. Therefore, a guide is provided with a limiter mechanism to set a constant gap between each side end of the paper and each guide, thereby reducing a frictional resistance (a back tension) between the side end of the paper and the guide (see Patent Document 1).
Patent Document 1: JP-UM-A-5-12428
In the printer of the ink jet type, the constant gap is always set between each side end of the paper and each guide. For this reason, there is a possibility that the paper might become loose due to a friction between the papers or a vibration in a recording operation, causing both side ends of the paper to come in contact with the fixed guide and the moving guide. When such a contact is generated, a frictional resistance (a back tension) between both side ends of the paper and the fixed guide and moving guide is increased in the feed of the paper so that the paper feeding failure is generated. In a recording operation in the latter stage of the paper feed, particularly, there is a possibility that recording precision might be deteriorated.